What's blooming on the last day of February?

“February - the month of love..?!!
No wonder the shortest one in the calendar.”
― Dinesh Kumar Biran

A quick walk through the garden and greenhouse on the last day of February, of course there is a lot more blooming than this but these made the biggest splash in the little pond. 

Iris reticulata backlit

Fritillaria latakiensis

Fritillaria raddeana

Fritillaria carica

Some grape hyacinths in the rock garden

The weather has been it's usual unpredictable self, it was in the 60's this past week and then the weekend arrived and it decided to spit cold rain from heaven. Lows in the upper 30's last night and quite a bit of rain came down, I'm kind of surprised it didn't snow a bit. I know everyone feels that one week of warm weather in February which you can almost always count on to give people the false sense of spring. But my years of gardening experience have taught me one thing, it's that March can be a a fickle month, prone to outbursts of arctic temperatures often followed by summer like sunshine. Don't think the winter has left quite yet.

Cheers,

Mark

Fritillaria sewerzowii

From Charles Hervey Grey's Three Volume 'Hardy Bulbs'

-Of wide distribution in Central Asia, attaining an elevation of  six thousand feet in Turkestan. The bulb is globose, stoloniferous, over an inche in diameter, with a few membranous scales above; the leaves cauline, opposite, sessile, boradly oblong, obtuse, pale-green...........It flowers in March-April, and at its best is quite an attractive species. It should be grown in very well-drained, light soil.

Fritillaria sewerzowii

This is truly one of my favorite of all the Fritillaria, I would love to see this one in habitat sometime. Seems like it might be the adventure of a lifetime to track this one down on the high alpine  slopes of the Central Asian mountains.

Cheers,

Mark

The Late February Spring fever

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”

— Margaret Atwood

I smelled like dirt after a Saturday spent turning the vegetable garden under and moving some well composted wood chips. February is just flying by and it's like I  blinked and it feels like 

Spring is here. 

The rock Garden is starting into bloom flower by flower. 

A few Iris reticulata are blooming now in the greenhouse and the garden.

The weather was so great today, sunny and warm and it was actually dry for about 4 days or so this week! The sun and the dirt are like battery rechargers for me. And the best part of the day is just winding down and walking around the garden and seeing all the new things coming into bloom.

Sunny with highs in the upper 50's and lows in the upper 20's. 

Cheers, 

Mark

Iris aucheri 'Indigo'

“Blue thou art, intensely blue; Flower, whence came thy dazzling hue?” – James Montgomery

Iris aucheri 'Indigo'

 

This seems to be in the trade as a strain more so than a clonal form, but the one I have is a wonderful indigo blue color. The Juno iris aren't really hard to grow here in my Western Oregon garden. I do find a few tips helpful. Good drainage through the winter, a drier spot in the summer although I have trialed a few different I. graberiana forms out in a bed that gets some consistent summer water and the look to be thriving after some years now. If you dig to divide them do be very careful of those fleshy storage roots that you do not want to break off. 

The bluest of the blue flowers and really the first of the Juno's to be in bloom. Although quite a few frits and narcissus are in bloom now as well. 

The weather has been pretty typical for an Oregon February. It was wet and rainy for the first part of the week, but a couple of dry days toward the end let me get a bunch of stuff done in the garden at work. Still too dark to get much done after work. It's supposed to be i low's in the 30's and rainy but drying out toward the end of the weekend and into the early part of next week. 

Cheers, 

Mark